Orlando hair salon vandalized, threatened in case of mistaken identity over racist rant, owner says

ORLANDO, Fla. – After a woman was caught on camera making anti-Asian comments at an Orlando restaurant last week, the owner of a nearby hair salon said her business was vandalized with hate-filled messages – and has received a rush of threats and negative reviews – from people who mistakenly think she’s the one in the video – but it’s not her.

Last week, King Cajun Crawfish posted a video on its Facebook page of a woman who was apparently unhappy with her meal and wanted a refund. When that didn’t happen, the women made a number of racist remarks.

“You want me to spell it for you? You’re a Chinese (expletive),” the woman said in the video. “…Take your (expletive) back to your country.”

That woman, who has not been identified, allegedly works at a beauty salon in Orlando, which apparently has a similar name to the one owned by Iris R. Mejia (Mejia owns Beauty Bar Orlando).

But, it was too late for internet sleuths and social media commenters.

“Ever since Monday, I have received threatening phone calls, death threats, and threats to burn down my business, all over mistaken identity. My stylists and I have lost business due to the threats and fear of coming to work. The threats seemed empty, until today,” Mejia wrote on a GoFundMe page.

Over the weekend, she found vandals had sprayed graffiti on her shop, including “go back to your cage,” among curse words and other comments. As a result, she’s had to cancel appointments and some of her employees were scared to come back to work.

“We had been receiving threats for over a week straight,” she said.

“A lot of the stylists were scared to come to work.”

Stylist Michelle Niesluchowski has returned to work and said the threats, harassment, and phone calls have been exhausting, but “fighting hate with hate is not the answer.”

“It’s terrible,” she said.

As of Wednesday, the GoFundMe has raised more than $6,000 toward its $10,000 goal.